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The firm’s managing director said the new service, called First (which stands for free investment report service and tool), was different to other “no-frills” execution only services, as it could allow any private investor to analyse their portfolio free of charge, without any requirement to appoint Bestinvest as an agent, and offered am extensive range of support tools.

First is available to investors both online or through the post and is supported by a dedicated phone-based team and website, which includes educational videos and investment guides.

The service is underpinned by four key principles:

Asset allocation

Assessing how balanced a portfolio is by looking through underlying investments and comparing it to a Bestinvest model with comparable levels of risk.

Exposure to risk

Analysing the volatility of a portfolio and enabling the user to compare it to a range of market benchmarks and Bestinvest model portfolios.

Quality of holdings

Providing users with a summary view of the overall quality of their holdings and a Bestinvest ranking.

Costs

First assesses a portfolio’s total annual expenses, highlights potential cost savings, and compares costs with those on a portfolio of funds that Bestinvest scores highly.

Mr Hollands said more than 11,500 investments were covered by First, including open ended funds, investment trusts, unit-linked pension funds, investment bonds, ETFs and individual stocks and shares, including those held within Isas and personal pensions.

He added: “Orphaned investors will need access to educational material, rigorous research and user-friendly guidance tools to help them navigate the investment maze.”

Death of the Salesman research found:

• 30 per cent were concerned that their advice may be biased post-RDR.

• Over on in five (22 per cent) said their portfolio had never been reviewed by their adviser.

• Only 15 per cent would be more likely to use an adviser as a result of transparency over fees.

Brian Dennehy, managing director of Kent-based IFA Dennehy Weller, said: “We are doing this already with fundexpert.co.uk, and I think the RDR will trigger even more online, execution-only propositions over the next few years.

“Sadly, the advisory industry in its current form is dying, and new clients over the next 5 to 10 years will increasingly look online for non-advised guidance.”